Jail one of state's most violent

Capricornia Correctional Centre, where there were 10 serious assaults on prisoners in 2010-11.FILE

THERE were 10 serious assaults on prisoners at Rockhampton's jail in 2010-11, making it jointly the most violent of Queensland's prisons.

Statistics published by Queensland Corrective Services yesterday confirmed the Capricornia jail had the highest number of serious assaults along with Arthur Gorrie, Brisbane Women's and Woodford prisons.

But Acting Commissioner Marlene Morrison denied a claim by LNP front-bencher Jarrod Bleijie that there had been breakdown in discipline in the state's correctional facilities.

Mr Bleijie alleged that a watering-down of discipline combined with overcrowding was making it more difficult for over-stretched staff to control dangerous offenders.

He said there had been a huge spike in the number of assaults on staff at the Lotus Glen jail, south of Mareeba, from one attack in 2008-09 to 23 in 2010-11.

He claimed while there were no assaults on staff in Capricornia jail in 2008-09 there were three in 2010-11.

Prison staff across the state stopped work for an hour yesterday to discuss the issue.

But Ms Morrison disputed the figures and issued statistics which contradicted those circulated by Mr Bleijie.

"Our centres have a zero-tolerance approach to prisoner-on-staff assaults. Any assault by a prisoner on staff is taken seriously," she said, adding that Queensland prisons were among the safest in Australia.

According to the official figures there were five serious assaults on staff across the state's prisons in 2010-11 and 40 non-serious attacks - the worst statistics since 2003-04.

There were 73 serious and 180 non-serious attacks on prisoners by other prisoners in 2010-11, a marked increase in serious, but a considerable reduction in non-serious, incidents compared with previous years.

PRISON VIOLENCE

Five serious and 40 non-serious attacks on prison staff in 2010-11 in Queensland jails

73 serious assaults on prisoners, 10 of them in Rockhampton in 2010-11

LNP claims there were three assaults on prison officers in Rockhampton in 2010-11